Lettering-triangle.



, 0. A. OLSON.l

LEITERING TRIANGLE. APPLICATION FILED MAR- 29. |917- 'Patented Apr.16,1918.

UNITED srArEs PATENT OFFICE.

' LETTERING-TRIANGLE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr, 16, 1918.

Application led March- 29, 1917. Serial No. 158,444.

' To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, OSCAR VA. OLsoN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, andresident of Ames, in the county of Story and State of A further objectis to provide such a trif angle having`a 'rotary member, the triangleand rotary member being made of lsuch material and so arranged that therotary member is normallylocked by the resiliency of' the 'parts againstmovement, the rotary member having portions adapted to be grasped by thefingers of the user, the partsvbeing so arranged that when irmly grippedby the linger of the user, the locked engagement of the parts will bereleased.

Still af further object is to provide such a triangle having a rotatablemember provided with regularly spaced openings for makingletteringlines, said openings being arranged for makingdines at different dis'tances from each other.

Still a further object is to providesuch a triangle as that mentioned inthe last paragraph having adjacent to said rotarymember certainindicating characters, which when the rotary memberis moved to a certainposition` with relation thereto, indicate the 'relative 'spaces betweenthe holes in the'r rotary .member for thereby indicating the height vofletter made in the use of lines formed by marking through said openingsand sliding the triangle. s

Still a further object is to provide such a triangle having a rotary-member provided a with regularly spaced openings, and to providefigures adjacent to said rotarymember forming a protractor.

A still further object is to providev such a triangle having-figures andletters formlng a protractor arranged near one edge of the triangle foraiding in fdrawing slope lines for lettering.

Still a further object is to provide near one point of the triangle anopening with a plurality of circles arranged concentric therewith, and aline crossing said circle and said openmg and bisecting said angle ofthe triangle for making fillets or the like.

Vith these and other objects in View, my invention consists in theconstruction, ar-

rangement and combination of the various.

parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated' are attained, ashereinafter more fully lset forth, pointed out in my claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

` Figure 1 shows a top 0r plan view of a lettering triangle embodying myinvention, and Fig. 2 shows a vertical, sectional view through the sametaken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1. v

In the accompanying drawings, I have used the character 10 to indicategenerally a triangle preferably made of some transparent material suchas Celluloid or Xylonite, and

having three straight edges .0, p and g.

Arranged adjacent to the straight edge Q are parallel concentric curvedlines 11 and 12 lforming semi-circles centering' at 1". A plurality oflines 1,3 extend from the line 11 radially toward the center of thecircles.

At the outer ends of the lines '13 are suitable numbers. The lines 13are regularly spaced, and together with thelines 12'and 11 and the.members ust mentioned form a pro tractor.

On the` centralportion of the triangle is fa round opening 14. The wall,of the triangle aroundjthe opening 14 is` provided -with a grooyewl.Mounted in the opening ing at its peripher an' annular, central iange 7creceived in t e groove 15, and hav-v -ing on opposite sldes recesses,the walls of which are indicated by the letter y'.

14 is a transparent rotary member 16 hav- Between the two recesses inthe oppositeNV side of the rotary member 16 are parallel slots e andlc1. -The'rotary member is made fof resilient, transparent material andisso arranged that the portions 17, forming points at the ends of therecesses in the rotary,\member, frictionally engage the vrWall of theopening 14 for locking the rotary member against movement. f

When originally made the pointsl? eX- tend outside of `.a true circleand they are pressed .inwardly in mounting the rotary member in theopening 14, after which they form a friction lock for normallypreventing rotation of the rotary member.

.j When the fingers are inserted in `the recesses in the rotary memberand pressed `toward. each other, it will be 'seen that the body of therotary member, between the slots e and e1 and the recesses in saidrotary member will yieldingly slide, so that the portions 17 will bedrawn inwardly for thereby reducing their frictional engagement with thebody of the triangle and thereby permitting the easy rotation of thevregular intervals at any desired distance apart.

The holes in the different rows are arranged at different distancesapart. Take for instance the holes in the rows il. These holes arearranged to make lines for making letters, the lower portions of whichare two-thirds the entireheight of the letters, and `the upper portionsof which are one`l third the entire height of the letters. Thus theholes in the row l are arranged in the order of one hole, then two'holes closer together, then another single hole, then two holes closertogether and so on.

Assume that the letter to be made is one-fourth inch in height, then thetwo close holes are arranged one-twelfth of an inch apart and each closehole is arranged twotwelfths 'of an inch from the next adjacent singlehole. Thus if the triangle is placed on a piece of paper and the base isplacedv against some fiXed guide object witha straight edge, then if thepencilA is inserted in the second circle from the toplan'd the triangleis slid-laterally, for makin a line,

' and the-pencil is placed in the third hole from the top and thetriangle isslid laterally for making a second line, and the pencil isthen placed in the fourth hole from the top and the triangle is slidlaterally formaking a third line, the first and third lines Awill beone-fourth of an inch apart, and the first land second Alines will heone-twelfth of an inch apart, andthe second and third lines will betwo-twelfths 1 is directly above the lower line already made.

The holes in the rows h and g are arranged atv different distances formaking letters on other scales. I f

Assume that the holes in the row'z'l 'are arranged as mentioned, thedistance from each hole to the second hole therefrom will be eightthirty-seconds of an inch. 1f it is desired to make letters on the samescale of one-third and two-thirds, but 'to make them of a differentheight above and below the middle guide line of each set of three ofsuch lines, I have provided adjacent to the opening 14 a plurality ofcharacters and lines c. The characters are the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,and 7. These represent the numerator, the unshown but understooddenominator for each number being 32 and the number referring tofractions of inches.

When the middle row of holes L is in vso vertical position they will bein line with the line d, and the numeral 8 arranged below the center ofthe rotary member 16. The characters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and the linesadjacent thereto are so arranged that when the rowjof holes z, is turnedto be in line with the numeral 7, then when the row of holes 'i1 is usedfor making lines, the lines will be properly spaced for making lettersseven thirty-seconds of an inch in i height, and so on. y

Tt will be seen from 'the illustration'given that spaced lines formaking letters of ,a great variety of heights may be made with therotary member shown hereinprovided with the different rows of holes.Arranged near the lower corner of the triangle is an opening m aroundwhich are concentric cir.

cles Z. The opening m is in the line bisectin the angle of the trianglein which the ho e m is located'. The circle and opening m are used forlocating the centers for drawing fillets.

Assume that it is desirable to show in the drawing a fillet extendingfrom one to another of two lines arranged at right-angles to each other,the triangle is placed on the drawing until opposite sides of the samecircle touch the two lines. 3A pencil can then be inserted through thehole m for marking on the drawing the center from which to f draw thellet.

It will be seen that a triangle of this kind can be put to a greatvariety of uses, and it is especially designed for use by students inthe studyv of lettering. d

4Some changes may be made in the construction, and -it is my'intention.to vcover by the claims of 'my patent any modified forms of structureor use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably ineludedwithin the scope of my claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An instrument having straight edges, and having a circular opening, amember m unted for rotation in said openingsaid m mber being providedwith a row of regularly. spaced holes, said instrumenthaving indicatingmarks adjacent to said opening,

for indicating the distances between the paths of travel of the variousholes, 'and in dili'erent positions of the rotary member when theinstrument is moved with a straight edge along a given straight line.

2. A measurin instrument having a straight edge, an al circular opening,a rotary member substantially circular in form mounted in said opening,vsaid Ainstrument and rotary member being provided with coacting guideportions, said rotary member being provided with opposite recesses inits periphery, and being made of resilient material, and being providedwith slots spaced from said recesses, the parts being so arranged thatthe portions of the body of said Irotary member, adjacent to saidrecesses, normally, yieldingly, frictionally engage said instrument, andso that when the ngers are inserted through said recesses and pressedtoward each other, said portions of the body will be drawn inwardly forreducing such rial, and being provided with slots spaced from saidrecesses, the parts being so arranged that the portions of the body ofsaid rotary member, adjacent to said recesses, nor-V mally, yieldingly,frictionally engage said d instrument, and so that when the fingers areinserted through said recesses and pressed toward each other, saidportions of the body will be drawn inwardlv forl reducing suchfrictional engagement, and additional means for yieldingly pressing saidportions outwardly against the wall of said instrument around theopening therein.

4. An instrument having straight -edges and having a circular opening, amember l mounted for rotation in` said opening, said member beingprovided with, portions for yieldingly engaging the body oftheinstrument, and with portions adapted to be grasped for drawing saidfirst portions away from such engagement.

Des Moines, Iowa, March 9`197.

OSCARl A. oLsoN.

